


Becoming Real

by skyclectic



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 07:58:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12766557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyclectic/pseuds/skyclectic
Summary: When Kyuhyun’s lips meet his, the flutter in his chest grows larger and spreads like wildfire through his heart.He learns then that love doesn’t have to take years to come into being. Sometimes, it only takes a dream, a chance meeting and a heartbreakingly beautiful smile.





	Becoming Real

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the Super Junior 100 Fic Challenge. Prompt #37 Rotation (Hankyung/Kyuhyun)
> 
> Written and posted on helloparoxysm@livejournal on 9th February 2009

In his dreams, Hankyung is always running. He runs past blurred sceneries and faces that seem familiar yet he cannot recognise. Most times, he wakes up in a cold sweat with his heart racing and he has no idea whether he is running towards or from something that he cannot see.   
  
Sometimes though, his dream is different. He is still running but not blindly. Sometimes, just like this time now, he is running after someone. He can see the figure running ahead of him and Hankyung is desperately trying to catch up.   
  
Just when he is about to give up – giving in to the exhaustion and breathlessness settling over his bones – the figure looks back. In the flurry of movement, all Hankyung registers is the curved edge of a smile – heartbreakingly beautiful – and he startles awake.  
  
His heart is pounding, beating a rapid staccato against his ribs and when he closes his eyes again, the smile burns on the inside of his eyelids like an inked stain.

 

 

 

Hankyung slips into his favourite café and waves at the owner. He turns to head to his usual seat only to find it occupied by a young teenage couple.

The boy reaches out a hand across the table and threads their fingers together. The girl catches Hankyung’s eye and smiles at him. He sees the happiness reflected in the upward curve of her lips, smiles back, and orders a take away instead.  
  
When the owner hands him his coffee, Hankyung takes it with a grateful smile and steps out of the dimly-lit corner café. The street is filled with bustling people – women laden with shopping bags, kids hopping across the pavement cracks and teenagers on their way to school.

Hankyung starts to walk and he sips his coffee on every alternate step. He nods politely and offers up a half-smile at the ones that stop long enough to meet his eye. 

 

 

 

He ends up at the town’s old railway station with half of his coffee gone and the other half starting to turn cold.

It is quiet here; so quiet that Hankyung can hear his own heart beat a steady rhythm against his ribs. He finds that he doesn’t really mind having to abandon his morning coffee routine at the café. It makes for a nice change.  
  
Hankyung settles himself on one of the wooden benches at the station and leans against the whitewashed wall behind him.

A pair of blue butterflies crosses into his line of vision and he watches as they dance around a flower in perfect rhythm.   
  
When the train pulls into the station with a grinding noise, he doesn’t blink and casually takes another sip from the cup in his hand. An old woman struggles with her oversized luggage at the nearest train door and Hankyung watches as she heaves it onto the platform with difficulty. He drains his cup and sets it down on the floor next to the bench before getting up to help her.   
  
He takes two steps towards her and finds his way blocked by a man just getting off the train – his back to Hankyung. He reaches out to tap the man’s shoulder and the stranger turns around to look at him.

Hankyung catches a glimpse of that same heartbreakingly beautiful smile from his dream and his breath catches.

“Annyonghaseyo. Uh –“ the man struggles for a bit as though searching for the right words to say. “Uh – Ni hao. Sorry. Uh – I lost. Can you help –“  
  
“Annyonghaseyo. Your Chinese is terrible.”  
  
“Oh – You speak Korean?”  
  
Hankyung shrugs. “My mother was Korean. Anyway the train has a rotation system. You’re stuck here till next Tuesday when it comes again.” _  
_  
“Oh. Uh – Sorry but do you know anywhere I can stay in the mean time?” __  
  
Hankyung shrugs again. “You can stay in my apartment if you want. I won’t charge you rent.”  
  
The man grins at him and Hankyung feels an inexplicable urge to capture that smile and tuck it into his breast pocket so that he can look at it over and over again.

 

 

 

They walk back to the café and Hankyung orders two cups of coffee when the waitress stands over their table. She delivers the coffee a minute later, placing both cups down neatly at Hankyung’s elbow.

Hankyung slides a cup across the table and he uses the steam rising in tendrils from the rim of the cup as a cover – to stare at the man before him.   
  
He is young, much younger than Hankyung. Still, there is an uncharacteristic maturity that plays around the edges of his mouth and lines the corners of his eyes.   
  
The young man notices him watching and smiles again, the corners of his mouth flitting upwards with unpractised ease. Hankyung feels a flutter in his chest that has got nothing to do with the burn of coffee currently sliding down his throat.   
  
Hankyung wonders if anyone else has sat across from the person they see in their dreams, wondering as he is now, whether this is real or just an extension of the same dream.  
  
The man stirs creamer into his coffee and takes a sip. Hankyung follows suit and almost burns his tongue. The stranger before him chuckles at his gasp of pain and hands him a napkin from the small basket on the table.  
  
“By the way, I’m Cho Kyuhyun and currently majoring in Post-Modern Music. You?”  
  
“Hankyung.”  _And I dream about you._ _  
_

 

 

In the two hours they spend at the café, Hankyung learns only Kyuhyun’s name and the fact that he is a Post-Modern Music major in his final year at Kyunghee University. Kyuhyun tells him that it’s in the Dongdaemun district. Hankyung has no idea where that is but he doesn’t ask.   
  
He doesn’t ask what Kyuhyun is doing an ocean away from home in a town lost in the heart of a foreign country. He doesn’t ask what is Kyuhyun’s favourite colour or his mother’s maiden name or whether he is an only child. He doesn’t ask anything that can tell him what Kyuhyun is like as a person, and in the companionable silence that follows, Hankyung imagines that he has years to learn all that by heart.   
  
In between sips from their second cup, Kyuhyun breaks the silence with a raspy voice.

“Did you know that if you scream in 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you’d have produced enough energy to heat a cup of coffee?”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yeah.”   
  
Hankyung drains his coffee and lays his opinion out on the table for Kyuhyun to examine. “Doesn’t seem like it’s worth it if you have to lose your voice for coffee.”  
  
Kyuhyun shrugs at him and pours salt into his empty coffee cup. “You never know. People do crazy things when they’re desperate.”  


 

 

Nights in the town are cold, the wind bitterly gnawing at exposed skin. At the door of his apartment, Hankyung rubs his palms together before reaching into his pocket for the keys. Kyuhyun stands a little off to the side, seemingly unfazed by the bitter cold even though Hankyung can see that the tips of his ears are beginning to turn red.  
  
The door opens with a click and Hankyung gestures at Kyuhyun to enter. When Kyuhyun takes a step inside the warm apartment, Hankyung’s heart jumps like as though something has set a foot in the interior of his heart as well.   
  
“It’s a nice place. You have good taste.”  
  
“Thanks,” Hankyung hands him pillows and a blanket from the closet down the hallway. “I don’t have a guest room. You’ll have my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch.”  
  
“No it’s okay. The couch is fine.”  
  
Hankyung nods uncertainly and asks Kyuhyun if he would like a beer before going to bed. Without waiting for an answer, he heads over to the kitchen and pulls open the fridge.

When the cool gust of air hits his face, Hankyung freezes and thinks that surely, this feeling starting to take root deep within his chest, is really just infatuation in another one of its clever disguises.  


 

 

Hankyung walks into the living room a minute later and finds Kyuhyun out on the small balcony with his elbows resting against the railing. He is looking up at the star-strewn sky and the arch of his neck is a graceful curve.   
  
For a second or two, Hankyung stares at the curve of his neck and the strong line of his jaw. He is half expecting to wake up at any second and realise that this is really just a dream after all.  
  
Kyuhyun turns when Hankyung steps out onto the balcony and Hankyung hands him a can of beer. He hopes that the slight tremor in his fingers is because of the sharp wind rather than the split second touch of Kyuhyun’s palm against his.   
  
Kyuhyun lifts the tab off his can and gulps down half the can at one go. He wipes his mouth with his sleeve and turns back to look at the dancing stars. “It’s a beautiful night.”  
  
“Yeah I know. I chose this apartment for its view.”  
  
“You chose well. It’s beautiful,” Kyuhyun says, before gulping down the rest of his beer and crushing the can in his fist. “Did you know Romeo and Juliet were called star-crossed lovers?” __  
  
“Yeah I heard of that.”  
  
“Do you believe in that?”  
  
Hankyung pauses in the middle of lifting the can to his mouth. “In what?”  
  
“Divine providence, horoscopes, what have you.”  
  
“I don’t know. More in God I guess. And you? Which do you believe in?”  
  
Kyuhyun tears his gaze away from the heavens to look at Hankyung. Hankyung can see the stars clearly reflected in his eyes and he thinks of endless possibilities and intertwined futures. 

“Neither,” Kyuhyun replies with a wry smile. “I believe in fate.”  


 

 

On the second night, Hankyung takes Kyuhyun out on a tour of the town even though there is nothing really much to see.  
  
They blend into the crowded streets and Hankyung points out shops and landmarks. “That shop there sells excellent dumplings. I’ll take you there one day.”  
  
“Okay. So it’s settled then. We’ll have lunch there tomorrow.”  
  
It’s a promise that Hankyung grabs on to and cradles in the palm of his hand. He tells himself that it doesn’t mean anything more than protecting something that has the potential to make his day.  
  
They turn the corner into a night market bustling with haggling shoppers and vendors promoting their wares. The voices of indignant buyers protesting at exorbitant prices and the shouts of  _Discount! Buy 1 get 1 free!_  rings through the air as one until it is almost impossible to distinguish one from the other.   
  
As if on instinct, Kyuhyun reaches out and takes hold of Hankyung’s sleeve so that they won’t get separated. Hankyung finds that he doesn’t quite mind the gentle tug at his right sleeve.

It only means that Kyuhyun is still there, still real.   


 

 

The road they take ends at a small bridge overlooking the river that runs along the side of the town. Kyuhyun pulls himself up onto the railings of the bridge with a grin at Hankyung’s direction.   
  
“Come on. There’s plenty of room for both of us.”  
  
Hankyung stares at Kyuhyun’s precarious position and the sheer drop to the water meters below. “No. You’re _crazy_. You’re gonna fall in.”  
  
Kyuhyun holds out his hand with his palm up and wriggles his fingers. “Trust me.”  
  
Hankyung hesitates before taking Kyuhyun’s hand in his. The star of Kyuhyun’s palm fits exactly right in Hankyung’s own and he is surprised at how right it feels.   


 

 

Two hours later when they are safely back in Hankyung’s apartment; they are more than a little drunk. Hankyung cannot remember the last time he felt like this – everything is warm and fuzzy and there is a tingling at the bottom of his spine.   
  
Kyuhyun lifts the tab of yet another can of beer and passes it over to him. Their fingers touch for a fraction of a second and something in Hankyung’s stomach twists.   
  
Kyuhyun opens a can for himself and holds it up in front of his eyes. He speaks to the droplets of water cooling on the surface of the aluminium can. “I wasn’t supposed to end up here, you know.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I wasn’t supposed to come here exactly. I was supposed to just stay in Beijing for the weekend.” __  
  
Hankyung stares. “And?”  
  
“A woman sold me her ticket. She couldn’t visit her family after all. Said she was desperate and couldn’t get a refund. So I bought it from her, got on the train with no idea where it’s headed, and somehow ended up here.”  
  
“Oh. Why?”  
  
“I figured there must be a reason why she chose to sell her ticket to me instead of the other 4 people standing next to me.”  
  
“Well, did you find the reason?”  
  
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun sets his empty can of beer down on the coffee table and looks Hankyung straight in the eye. “I found you.”  
  
“Oh,” Hankyung breathes, as Kyuhyun’s face gets impossibly closer to his. 

“Oh,” He breathes again as Kyuhyun’s breath ghosts on his lips and his palm rests gently against Hankyung’s cheekbone.   
  
Kyuhyun tastes like licorice – bittersweet and leaving an aftertaste that coats the insides of Hankyung’s mouth. The sweet hard star of his palm against Hankyung’s cheek tells of unsaid promises and happily ever afters.  
  
When Kyuhyun’s fingers dance around the buttons of his shirt, Hankyung pulls away abruptly.  
  
“What’s wrong? I thought you wanted this as much as I did.” _  
  
_ “No,” Hankyung blurts out. He shakes his head when Kyuhyun’s frown deepens. “I mean yes. _Yes_. I do want it. It’s just… _I don’t know you_.”  
  
Kyuhyun smiles and unbuttons the top buttons of Hankyung’s shirt. He lets the shirt fall past Hankyung’s shoulders and lays his palm over Hankyung’s heart. 

“I don’t know you either. So we’re square.”

 

 

 

In the morning, Hankyung wakes up with his hand tangled in Kyuhyun’s own and forgets what color the sky is. He watches the gentle rise and fall of Kyuhyun’s chest and counts the number of times his heart beats in a minute. 

_72 beats per minute_ , Hankyung thinks to himself. _That’s one thing more I know about you._  
  
He fingers the crescent-shaped scar right under Kyuhyun’s ribs. _Souvenir from a car accident._ Kyuhyun had told him last night when Hankyung asked. Hankyung closes his eyes and tries to memorize the feel of Kyuhyun’s heart beating against his. 

 

 

 

Later when Kyuhyun cracks open an eye and smiles at him, Hankyung feels a flutter in his chest and he smiles back.   
  
“Morning.” __  
  
“Morning,” Hankyung echoes and he nudges Kyuhyun’s foot with his toe. “Shower?”  
  
“Together?” Kyuhyun’s lips quirk slightly. “I’d never have pegged you as the kind.”

 

 

 

Even later, under the cover of the running water, Hankyung notices the string of bruises on Kyuhyun’s hipbone. He matches the print of his fingers to each bruise and realises now just how much strength he put into his grip last night.  
  
“Does it hurt? I’m sorry.”  
  
“Of course it hurts. You’re pressing on them.”  
  
“Oh. Sorry.”  
  
“It’s okay. It’s a souvenir I don’t mind keeping.”  
  
Hankyung removes his hold on Kyuhyun’s hips and runs his thumb gently across the discolored skin.  _Mine_ , the bruises spell.  _Yours_ , Kyuhyun agrees, kissing the hollow of Hankyung’s collarbone.  
  
When Kyuhyun’s lips meet his, the flutter in his chest grows larger and spreads like wildfire through his heart.

He learns then that love doesn’t have to take years to come into being. Sometimes, it only takes a dream, a chance meeting and a heartbreakingly beautiful smile.  


 

 

The day before Kyuhyun leaves, Hankyung stares unblinkingly at the ceiling. The clock on the bedside table glows red. 

_1.37am_. 6 hours until the train leaves again.

The light from the streetlamp outside crisscrosses on the ceiling in a pattern that Hankyung doesn’t really see. His mind is stuck on their conversation 3 hours ago.  
  
_“Tomorrow is Tuesday.”  
  
“Yeah. I – Hankyung, I have to leave.”  
  
“Don’t. Can’t you – Kyuhyun, can’t you – stay.”  
  
“I can’t. I’ve – I’ve got to go back. I’m sorry.”_ __  
  
**Stay.**  Hankyung breathes against Kyuhyun’s lips, hoping that the sharp taste of the word will stick on the roof of Kyuhyun’s mouth and deter him somehow.  
  
Beside him, Kyuhyun is fast asleep and his chest rises and falls gently. Hankyung listens to his steady breathing and there is a foreign ache lodged in between his ribs. He wishes that he has all the time in the world to spend hours and minutes and seconds just lying next to Kyuhyun and hearing him breathe.  
  
Getting sudden inspiration, Hankyung switches on the bedside lamp. He blinks rapidly when the light hits him hard in the face and he stares apprehensively at the sleeping figure beside him. When Kyuhyun doesn’t stir, Hankyung takes out his digital camera from the bedside drawer.  
  
With trembling fingers, he aims the lens at Kyuhyun. He presses the silver button at the top of the camera once, twice, three times. 

_Kyuhyun’s eyes. Kyuhyun’s nose. Kyuhyun’s lips. Kyuhyun’s face. Kyuhyun’s hands. Kyuhyun’s scar. Kyuhyun’s beating heart. **Kyuhyun Kyuhyun Kyuhyun.**_  


 

 

Today is Tuesday.

Hankyung wakes up with Kyuhyun’s name still bubbling on his lips. The first thing he realises is the heavy way the air hangs in the room – Hankyung can only associate it with loss.

He looks around the room and the bag by the doorway is gone, along with any trace of its owner. The only indication that Kyuhyun was ever there at all is the crumpled blanket on the other side of the bed.   
  
Hankyung picks up the blanket and it’s still warm under his touch. He can smell Kyuhyun’s scent trapped in the fabric and the sharp pain in his chest makes him feel like crying. Instead, he carefully folds the blanket and places it neatly at the foot of the bed.   
  
He showers, eats half a bowl of cereal for breakfast and leaves for his usual morning cup of coffee at the café.

When he meets his neighbour in the lift, he smiles and offers a  _Have a good day, Mrs Wu_  at her.

When strangers he passes by on the street smile at him, he smiles back wide enough to show all his teeth – all the while hoping that nobody can see that he is this close to breaking apart.   


 

 

One cup of coffee and 2 cans of beer later, Hankyung heads back to his apartment; fully convinced that the last week did not happen – that _Kyuhyun_ did not happen.  
  
He takes off his coat and hangs it on the hook behind the door and places his keys on the coffee table. 

_A dream, that’s what it is._  He tells himself again when Kyuhyun’s smile floats in front of his eyes. He heads over to the kitchen and grabs another can of beer.  _A dream._  
  
He believes it whole-heartedly, that is until he catches sight of the calendar hanging on the living room wall.

It’s one of those calendars that only show a single date – you have to rip off yesterday to make room for today.

Hankyung had forgotten to do so this morning in light of everything (in light of a dream).   
  
The calendar currently shows a date a week from today. A Tuesday. A Tuesday when the train is scheduled to arrive again. Hankyung’s breath catches in his throat when he sees a black scribble at the bottom of the letter y.   
  
Kyuhyun has drawn a heart – shaky and tilted slightly to the left. On it are black lines that Hankyung assumes are veins until he moves closer and sees that it is the same word repeated over and over:  _yours_.  


 

 

Today is Tuesday.

Hankyung is already at the old railway station with two paper cups of coffee on the bench beside him.

A pair of blue butterflies dances in perfect rhythm around a flower and Hankyung gets a strange sense of déjà vu.   
  
When the train pulls up at the station with a grinding stop, Hankyung doesn’t blink. He sees a familiar figure stepping off the train and he makes his way over with the cups of coffee.   
  
“Annyonghaseyo. Uh –“ the man before him struggles for a bit as though searching for the right words to say. “Uh – Ni hao. Sorry. Uh – I lost. Can you help –“  
  
“Annyonghaseyo. Your Chinese is terrible.”  
  
“Oh – You speak Korean?”  
  
Hankyung grins, not minding at all that they’ve had this conversation before. “My mother was Korean. Anyway the train has a rotation system. You’re stuck here till next Tuesday when it comes again.“  
  
“Oh that’s okay. I don’t think I’ll be getting on it,” Kyuhyun offers up one of his heartbreakingly beautiful smiles for Hankyung to catalogue and keep. “Uh – Sorry but do you know anywhere I can stay in the mean time?”  
  
Hankyung shrugs and hands over one of the cups he is holding. “You can stay in my apartment if you want. I won’t charge you rent.”  
  
Kyuhyun grins at him, lifts his luggage and starts to walk out of the station.

Hankyung watches the broad expanse of his shoulders and thinks that sometimes love only takes a dream, a chance meeting and a heartbreakingly beautiful smile.

 


End file.
